1. How many players? 64 would be what we want.2. Is it a true PC game as opposed to a dumbed down console game ported to the PC? Although they did a good job on Bad Company 2 I think.3. Is it going to be Direct X 10/11 only (which precludes not being ported to the consoles I assume)? Rumored to be DX114. Are the maps going to be big enough for true armor/helo warfare? Without this it wouldn't be Battlefield period.5. Will they actually release modding tools so that modders can create more content? I think this is hurting BC2 (although the Vietnam expansion was nice and very well priced)

I am looking forward to this game. But I still have concerns about it, they haven't actually released enough info in the time that it's been known to be coming.

EDIT: I just woke up so my grammar and wording isn't exactly what I think it should be. BREAKFAST NEED!

1. How many players? 64 would be what we want.2. Is it a true PC game as opposed to a dumbed down console game ported to the PC? Although they did a good job on Bad Company 2 I think.3. Is it going to be Direct X 10/11 only (which precludes not being ported to the consoles I assume)? Rumored to be DX114. Are the maps going to be big enough for true armor/helo warfare? Without this it wouldn't be Battlefield period.5. Will they actually release modding tools so that modders can create more content? I think this is hurting BC2 (although the Vietnam expansion was nice and very well priced)

PC version will have 64 players, also jets but i just hope the jet vs. everything combat will be better than BF2. (with much, much larger more open maps)Console versions are coming out at the same time, i don't really worry about any consolification but rather i wonder if DICE will program a decent UI for the first time in the franchises history.

4. Are the maps going to be big enough for true armor/helo warfare? Without this it wouldn't be Battlefield period.

Armour yes, but aircraft, no. Dice are pretty much guaranteed to screw this up much too heavily in favour of anything that flies, and never successfully patch in any equality. BFBC2 is the closest they've come to getting it right, but I think only because there are no jets. Alternatively I'd be happy with aircraft-only servers which I could just never play on.

That aside, 64 players is good news, and if they want to know how big to make the maps, they need only look as far as BF2.

64 players was a mess on BF2, too many people and the balance issues start to become really apparent.

Even, competitive 12v12 on a 32 player map felt busy enough when everyone was playing well and tactically.

My old clan back in the organised some 'uberscrims' 64 player games where each clan submitted a 6 man squad or two the amount of organisation in just arranging the match let alone actually winning it.

The maps need to be BIGGER than the 64 man BF2 maps really, jets felt cramped.

The maps are not big enough to allow armour/inf to hide from the jets/helos there needs to be cover on the ground.

It shouldn't be the best decision tactically to fly the helo as high as possible which it was in BF2, from that point I could point my gunner at any target, all the armour was channelled down a few paths out in the open, it was a shooting gallery for air.

All I know is I'm really hoping for more than just 1 attack chopper and 1 transport chopper. I love flying helo's, but a little variety would be nice!

There's really only one other kind of helicopter (scout/reconnaissance), and they probably wouldn't be much fun to fly; very lightly armoured and carrying 1-2 missiles. Dice would probably still make them nigh-on unstoppable killing machines though.

If they're introducing jets, though, they must surely have done away with the BFBC2 tracer-dart tagging scheme though. It couldn't possibly work. Hopefully they finally include some effective SAMS or AAA vehicles.

Battlefield 3 is the true successor to Battlefield 2. Beyond our signature multiplayer, we have also included a full single-player campaign and a co-op campaign – all straight out of the box. As for fan favorite features, how does the return of jets, prone, and 64-player multiplayer (on PC) sound? All this built with our powerful new game engine Frostbite 2, which you'll hear and see a lot of in the months leading up to launch. For the full reveal on Battlefield 3, stay tuned for links to our cover stories hitting the gaming press throughout February, starting with Game Informer right now.

Battlefield 3 will release this Fall. You can preorder the Battlefield 3 Limited Edition at http://www.battlefield.com now. The exact contents of the Limited Edition will be revealed around GDC.

All I know is I'm really hoping for more than just 1 attack chopper and 1 transport chopper. I love flying helo's, but a little variety would be nice!

There's really only one other kind of helicopter (scout/reconnaissance), and they probably wouldn't be much fun to fly; very lightly armoured and carrying 1-2 missiles. Dice would probably still make them nigh-on unstoppable killing machines though.

Yes, they need to bring in the Armored Core Little Bird. Nothing more amusing than whipping around in that little thing with dual machine guns mowing down infantry.

I hope they scrap jets. Their controls were ridiculously bad, but if you persevered you could become a god.It was terrible game design when you'd constantly get killed by stuff you had no defence against.

The only defence was a jet of your own, and BF2 was a really bad jet simulator so it just wasn't fun.If I wanted a crappy jet simulation, I'd buy Tom Clancy's HAWX2. I never understood why people wanted them in their FPS.

I make an exception for WWII games, since low speed propeller planes with one or two bombs and a few strafing cannon are okay (and fun to fly in BF1943).

I also like the helicopters, since they can be balanced correctly. Humvee vs. helo fights can be a lot of fun. Blackhawks are essential in a big map.

The only defence was a jet of your own, and BF2 was a really bad jet simulator so it just wasn't fun.

Actually the AA vehicles were quite good at taking out jets. What needs to happen is give jets only one use of Chaffe. Don't let it recycle. That will make them easier to take down.

Though I always did love taking down jets with my tank while they swooped in for a bombing run.

Many of the AA units in BF2 (almost all in the vanilla version) where completely out ranged by the planes, thus making them useless. You get killed by planes long before you had any sort of lock-on or ability to use guns. For some reason the planes had longer view distance while the AA had a very short acquire range. Couple that will unlimited chaff/flares and it was almost impossible to take planes down.

POE and many other mods fixed these issues with man-portable stingers and other decent AA.

Nope, they weren't. In all the time I tried, I probably got one aircraft kill for every 20 I got in every other vehicle or soldier class on foot. The AAA was comprehensively well-balanced in the PoE mods, but it was never fixed in vanilla BF2.

While I sorta played the original Battlefield way back in the day, the first title I properly played (with Arsians) was Bad Company 2, so I'm unfamiliar with the modern BF legacy. Do we expect this title to be awesome, or suck?

Looking forward to 8000 arguments about dolphin diving now that prone is confirmed.

This. Fuck prone. BC2 shows that you don't need it unless you want to fill your game with even more sniping and camping asshats.

As for jets, that was one of my seminal gaming experiences. At first I was like, what the fuck is this I can't place a bomb for my life; after a few hours I could destroy anything anywhere on the map with ease.

It was ridiculously overpowered, of course. But I'm sure that DICE won't make the same mistake twice.

While I sorta played the original Battlefield way back in the day, the first title I properly played (with Arsians) was Bad Company 2, so I'm unfamiliar with the modern BF legacy. Do we expect this title to be awesome, or suck?

It stands a good chance of being really great, but with some astonishingly, obviously bad gameplay decisions which Dice will never comment on publicly, nor do anything about.

Loove me some BF2/1942, and even a little 2142, so I'm excited by this. I want to get back to heli piloting with rocket strafing. I don't even care about the gunner missile, plus you could only count on the gunner actually doing their job if you knew them IRL or were in the same clan. I always thought jets moved too fast for the size of the maps, you were out of bounds way too quickly which made jet flying just a constant figure eight.

They won't do proper dedicated servers because people could game their shitty rank systems. Seriously just give me all of the weapons and some arbitrary title, this isn't an MMO. Why can't the experience bar grinders stick with WoW or Call of Duty?

1) does it have bradleys / m1 tanks / leopard tanks2) can I stick Jakal in the gunner seat and go wabbit huntin3) can I cause mayhem and chaos up close and personal like4) can I lay explosives for people to run / drive into5) does it have a variety of air roles6) can I avoid mikeygamer stabbing me in the face with a gun made of hate7) will it have rocket launchers so more people will hate corporate8) can I lurk in the rocks with c4 screaming DUCK SEASON at snipertards

Yet, Bad Company 2: Vietnam, I feel like you can shoot down a helicopter with your pistol, it's laughable.

If they could someone take the difference between the two, I think they might have something going there.

I'd doubt that. For one, they have twice the number of hit points of any helicopter in the vanilla BFBC2. For another, only 2 weapons are instant kills on Hueys - tank cannon and RPGs - the two least likely to hit unless the pilot is a complete fool and obliginly hovers in place. They aren't too much of a threat since there are, thankfully, very few people I've encountered who actually know how to use them well and there are usually only two ever in play at any time, but when they do, they'll hassle the hell out of you.

There's a Youtube video how to shoot them down out there; it takes either a single tank-cannon shot, RPG, or sniper headshot on the pilot. Otherwise it takes 8 full clips of assault rifle fire (~240 rounds, all hitting) to bring one down. Your pistol doesn't do shit to them. GLs can bring them down too, but I forget how many it takes; it's more than one, anyway.